


if the world was ending (you'd come over, right?)

by orangesicles



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, M/M, Making Out, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Post-Apocalypse, Pre-Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-24 11:01:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30071268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orangesicles/pseuds/orangesicles
Summary: soobin has never run so fast in his life. he's falling apart, bit by bit, cardigan whooshing as he goes. his phone is buzzing in his pocket. more text messages. news alerts. the sky is falling, the world is ending, he'saware.he doesn't know how to stop it.
Relationships: Choi Soobin/Choi Yeonjun
Comments: 19
Kudos: 109





	if the world was ending (you'd come over, right?)

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this in like 5 hours it is not my best work and i apologize in advance!!!! i just needed to get it out.

it takes a step. the rhythmic up-down of a foot, sole of a worn sneaker meeting asphalt. it takes a breath. lungs fill, expand until it hurts, and then shrivel in and taper off. it takes a tear– single, lone– to crack the pavement and kill the grass and shatter the earth. it takes a moment. the sky flashes red-orange, hues so bright they could blind. it takes three seconds for the world to crumble.

soobin has never run so fast in his life. he's falling apart, bit by bit, cardigan whooshing as he goes and goes and  _ goes.  _ his phone is buzzing in his pocket. more text messages. news alerts. the sky is falling, the world is ending, he's  _ aware.  _ he doesn't know how to stop it.

he yanks the phone out, hastily pressing his thumb print to the screen so that it unlocks. his eyes skim the messages. two from hueningkai, three from beomgyu, one from taehyun. they all basically read the same thing.  _ 'there's not enough time for the five of us to meet up. you should head to yeonjun's so that you're not alone.' _

soobin had woken up to the sirens. he has no idea how long he slept through them for, his brain having learned to tune them out many months ago. but they weren't a drill this time, all too real as they rang shrill through murky, midsummer air. he hadn't heard them immediately. time wasted. he's running out. they're quieter now, volume turned down so that the ringing is more of a gentle wisp against the shell of his ear. it might almost be comforting if he didn't know what the noise signified. there are people flooding the streets, headed for their underground bunkers. it doesn't matter. those things won't save them.

his phone buzzes again consecutively, and he reads the messages as they come in. doesn't stop running. his eyes blur with tears, and he hastily blinks them away.

**yeonjun (2:43am)**

_ hey soobinnie _

_ u awake? _

_ tyun, kai, and gyu all met up at the park in their neighborhood _

_ we don't have time to meet them there _

_ u on your way over here? _

soobin doesn't bother replying. he shoves his phone away, picking up the pace. he can see yeonjun's house. it rests on the corner, chipped, wooden fencing twined with fairy lights. there's a small, inground pool in the backyard. soobin thinks about how many summers they spent out there, swimming until the air chilled them down to the bone. maybe it means something, for his last moments to be at the place where he's had some of his best.

he finds the gate unlocked and pushes inside, flinching as the hinges creak. it's warmer back here, humid because of the wooden fence that surrounds the property. there's yeonjun, sitting at the edge of the pool, feet dipped into the water. he's in a pair of shorts and a gray t-shirt. his hair is a little messy, flyaways poking out in a dozen different directions. it's newly dyed. pink with blonde tips. soobin hadn't liked it at first, too bright for his taste, but yeonjun's personality was quick to absorb the color and make it his own, and soobin had come around. he thinks it's cute now. suits the older man, though he won't tell him so aloud. it'd only go to his head.

when he takes a seat beside yeonjun, he's so winded he thinks he might pass out. his own arm wraps tight around his abdomen, and he squeezes his eyes shut, chest heaving. yeonjun rests a hand on his thigh, and his palm seeps warmth right through the fabric of soobin's sweatpants. 

"i thought you weren't going to make it," he says. his voice is soft, next to soobin's ear. fondly, he laughs, "you sleep through everything."

"how much time do we have left?" soobin manages to get out. he's not even certain that he wants to know as he opens his eyes and looks up to the sky. it's the color of fire, now. terrifyingly beautiful.

yeonjun unlocks his phone, scrolling through it for a few seconds. then he answers, "news sources say fifteen minutes. maybe twenty, if we're lucky."

"not enough time," soobin whispers. and then, "i wish the others were here."

"me too," yeonjun agrees, saddened lilt to his words. 

"i wonder how they're doing," soobin ponders. hueningkai had never really taken news of  _ the end _ well, even from the start. soobin had thought that time might make him more accustomed to the idea of dying. it only made him more scared. "i'm glad beomgyu and taehyun are there with kai," he muses aloud. "he's probably a mess right now."

"probably," yeonjun nods, sighing. he stares off into the pool, wispy  _ blue  _ circling his ankles as he gently swings his legs. his hand comes back to soobin's thigh, squeezing. "i hope that he's not crying, at the very least."

"oh, he's  _ definitely  _ crying," soobin smiles a little at the image that pops into his head. hueningkai's big, brown eyes red-rimmed and filled with tears. his tiny nose scrunched up as beomgyu rubs his back slowly. carefully, after a moment, his smile fades. "but i wish he weren't. i wish– i wish he were here."

"i know," yeonjun breathes. he sniffles, and soobin catches him swipe at his eyes with the back of his hand. "i really, really wish he were here, too."

_ "oh,"  _ soobin turns to face him better, eyes wide. "hyung– are you crying?"

yeonjun doesn't say anything for a brief moment. sirens hang in the air, filling the silence. and then, as if his body finally catches up with his brain, he collapses in on himself, face buried in his hands as he sobs. his shoulders shake, entire frame trembling, and he heaves and heaves, tears slipping through the cracks of his fingers. soobin reaches for him instinctually, tugging him in by the sleeve of his t-shirt. he lets yeonjun cry into his shoulder, lets him cling to him so tightly that it feels like the seams of his cardigan might rip apart. he holds him until he stops shuddering. he's not sure how long it takes. a few minutes, maybe. more time than they have to spare.

he lies on his back, taking yeonjun down with him. they cuddle up together; something they're all too used to. the older man's arm draped across his waist still gives him butterflies, though.

"i don't mean to be sad," yeonjun says after a few seconds, words sort of croaky. "i told myself i wouldn't cry."

"it's not something that you can really help, silly," soobin murmurs against the top of his head, pink hair tickling his cheek. 

it's quiet save for the lovely trill of the crickets. the sirens have been turned off, now.

"we're really going to die, aren't we?" yeonjun asks. his hand tightens into a fist around soobin's shirt as he snuggles into his chest, nosing at the fabric. 

"yes," soobin whispers.

yeonjun tenses, though only slightly. "do you think it'll hurt?"

soobin swallows. his throat feels dry. "i hope not," he says.

yeonjun moves the flap of soobin's cardigan aside in order to slide his open hand along the material of his t-shirt. his touch raises the hair on soobin's arms, sending his belly swooping low with the need to be closer, to touch  _ more,  _ to hold him longer. he tightens his arm around yeonjun's shoulders until the older man is halfway on top of him, leg swung over his thighs. 

"i'll miss you," yeonjun says resolutely, like it's just something he knows. has always known. "i'll miss you so much."

"you'll be dead," soobin scoffs. "you won't miss anything."

"even in death, you're not someone i would forget," yeonjun tells him, and all of the breath  _ whooshes  _ from soobin's lungs. "so, i'll miss you."

"hyung-"

yeonjun props himself up on his elbow, looking down at soobin. he's so close like this, breath ghosting along the younger man's cheek. he doesn't let him finish, the smile on his face as dashing as ever despite his tear-stained, reddened skin. when his other hand comes up to cup soobin's face, he nearly expects it. manages to only jump a little.

yeonjun leans in to press his puckered lips to the curve of his cheekbone. "i've always loved you, you know."

soobin flushes. "i know," he says. "i love you, too."

yeonjun beams. "you're so, so cute." when soobin merely frowns at him, confused, yeonjun rolls his eyes fondly and continues, "i wanted to ask you out on a date, months ago. but then we got news of– of this, and i didn't think it'd be fair to do that to you. to start a relationship that we'd never be able to finish."

surely soobin isn't hearing him correctly. he bristles, lifting his head to get a better look at his face. their foreheads nearly bump together, and yeonjun lets out a breathy little laugh against the cut of his jaw. 

"you like me?" soobin asks, "like  _ that?" _

and this time yeonjun laughs for real, loud and pretty and boisterous. "i  _ love _ you," he clarifies, "like that."

"but you never asked me out.  _ why?  _ we've known each other for years, and you never-" soobin lets his head fall back against the dirt. ash falls from the sky, and he closes his eyes before it hits the ground. 

"there's not going to be a  _ good  _ explanation," yeonjun shrugs. "the timing never felt right, i guess."

"oh, but it feels right now?" soobin asks, and the bitterness that slips into his voice, it's– familiar. it's _ mean.  _ "it feels right now that there's none of it left?"

yeonjun's eyes soften. "soobin," he presses two fingers against the younger's chin, gently turning his head so that their noses graze. yeonjun's skin is soft, warm and stretchy. soobin's hands tremble. "soobin, please don't be upset with me."

the sky gives a great heave, almost like it is sighing. it rumbles, shakes the ground that they're lying on, and soobin tugs yeonjun closer to him. the older man pinches his cheek, dips a fingertip into the divot of his dimple, plucking away at him until soobin's smile turns real. after a few moments, he leans into the touch. finds reprieve in it. longing. forgiveness. want.

"i'm so sad," he whispers, lashline blurred with tears. "i feel like my chest is crashing in on itself."

two of yeonjun's fingers find his solar plexus. they press down hard. "no," he smiles. "no, you're okay. i'll keep you safe."

"shouldn't we get in your bunker?" soobin asks. he remembers going inside of it once. it was incredible, lined with  _ years  _ worth of food and water, bunkbeds, books, and medicines. it'd felt like a little home underground, but the implications of its existence had quickly turned soobin's marvel sour. "at least  _ try  _ to take some precautions?"

yeonjun shakes his head, hair flopping in front of his eyes. it looks like he'd forgone brushing it as he climbed out of bed this evening, and it should be unattractive, the messiness, but soobin's seen it like this dozens of times, and it always,  _ always  _ falls the same way each time. each strand, consistently. he smiles before he can help it, brushing his fingers through it.

"we're going to die whether we're in the bunker, or out here," yeonjun says. soobin scrunches up his nose. he's tired of hearing the word  _ die.  _ has heard it enough the past few months to last a lifetime. "and i'd rather kiss you on the grass, next to the pool where we've played  _ marco polo _ a hundred times than down there."

soobin's mouth curves up at the corners. "you're going to kiss me, huh?"

"if i'm allowed to," yeonjun whispers, plush lips ghosting the curve of soobin's throat. "if you want me to."

soobin shivers, fisting the back of yeonjun's t-shirt. "i do. i want you to," he says, a little bit breathless.  _ i've wanted you to forever,  _ he doesn't say.  _ since we met in high school during a soccer match, and you kicked the ball so hard at my face it made my nose bleed. you looked so apologetic. you looked so beautiful.  _

yeonjun moves to straddle his waist, thighs bracketing him on either side. from this angle, the sharp lines of his features are highlighted in amber-gold. as soobin looks up at him, smoothing his palms up the older man's thighs, he thinks that he's even more beautiful now than he was back in high school. he's not sure how that's even possible, but yeonjun just keeps evolving, changing his hair, growing into his features. the slope of his nose reflects natural light, like a little kiss from the sun. soobin's chest aches at the sight of it.

when yeonjun finally leans down, soobin meets him halfway. yeonjun thumbs at the corner of his mouth, kissing him right in the center of his lips, soft. he pulls back for just a second, eyes boring into soobin's, so close that their noses graze. he can feel yeonjun's breath on his mouth; notices the way it catches when soobin slides a hand in his hair and holds on tight.

the second time they kiss, soobin is more reluctant to pull away. yeonjun kisses him on the middle of his mouth again, the same sweet, soft pressure, and soobin whines, hand white-knuckling his hair as he arches his back, trying to get  _ more.  _ yeonjun giggles, pressing his palms against soobin's chest to keep him at bay.

"don't have time for you to be a tease," soobin huffs against his mouth, eyes still shut. he can feel the older man looking at him. 

"let me take my time with you," he insists. he pinches soobin's chin between two fingers, tilting his head up just the tiniest bit. "been wanting to do this for so long."

that works a laugh out of soobin. "you  _ do  _ know the world is ending, right?"

"'s easy to forget when you're lying beneath me like this," yeonjun murmurs, barely above a whisper.

the third time they kiss, soobin learns a couple of things right away:

yeonjun's lips are as soft and telling as they look, careful wisps of  _ wet  _ making the slide of their mouths easier. yeonjun prefers to lead, seems to have a knack for it as he moves his head this way and that. soobin follows him, face turned towards him, yearning for his touch like a flower in search of sunlight. soobin learns that he likes his hair pulled, and when he winds the pink strands round his long fingers just  _ right,  _ yeonjun shudders apart, breath hitching in the back of his throat. it's enough to jolt them apart. and it's enough to make them jerk forward, faster, harder than before. yeonjun's mouth is on his, insistent, fingers curling in soobin's cardigan, and soobin drags in a breath through his nose the best he can, head dizzy–

"oh," he shivers, propping himself up on an elbow to get closer to yeonjun. he feels like he's still too far away; like the layers of clothes the both of them have on are suffocating. yeonjun's warm fingertips slide beneath his cardigan, beneath his t-shirt, right over the sensitive skin of his abdomen. he exhales shakily, hands trembling as he moves them to cup yeonjun's face, pulling him close. "hyung, i-"

yeonjun doesn't seem keen on letting him get a word in, flicker of his tongue smoothing along soobin's bottom lip. soobin opens up for him, blooms like a blossom in spring, and when yeonjun licks into his mouth, it tastes like sleep and sugar, like the minty toothpaste he's used forever. soobin uses it too, they share it whenever he comes over to spend the night. the domesticity of that is laced with something  _ deep,  _ something that makes soobin's belly swoop low with want. 

soobin pulls away, gasping, eyes wide. glossy. yeonjun looks down at him, his own eyes hooded, lips redder than they had been a few minutes ago. one hand slips out from beneath soobin's shirt to thumb at his cupid's bow.

"cute," he says, teasing tone evident in his voice. "your lips are soft."

"why'd you stop, then?" soobin asks, frowning.

"don't want to rush things with you," yeonjun says, earnestly. the apples of his cheeks are round, flushed pretty pink as he smiles down at soobin. "you deserve to be pulled apart slowly."

soobin snorts. "as much as i appreciate you waxing poetics," he grins, "i don't think we have time for that, hyung."

yeonjun dips down, tilting soobin's head back so that he can nose at the column of his throat, breaths coming out sparse against his skin. "maybe not," he hums, "but let me pretend, for just a moment."

lips parted the slightest bit, he presses his mouth to soobin's throat, just right of his adam's apple. he breathes in, stilling for a second– leaves a tiny half-kiss against his skin– and then his tongue jets out to press flat against the smooth line of his neck, teeth scraping after every kiss. his hands go back to soobin's stomach, fingertips pressing into the faded indentations of abs that used to exist. and his mouth pops open further as he grows bold, and soobin is done for as yeonjun sucks hard enough to leave a mark behind, intention dripping from each and every press of his lips.

the gravelly moan that climbs up his throat surprises himself almost as much as it does yeonjun. the older man pulls back just a hair, enough to look down at soobin with wide eyes, tongue darting out to lick at his bottom lip.

"hyung," soobin rasps. he clears his throat, swallows past the tightness there. "yeonjun hyung," he tries again.  _ "please." _

"sorry," yeonjun shakes his head, and god,  _ god  _ he sounds so gone already, "sorry, you're just– i want-"

soobin pulls him down with a hand on the back of his neck. yeonjun's mouth moves instinctually, immediately– there's no time to waste, no time to taunt and tease and play. yeonjun's teeth find the junction of his neck and tug, suck, hard and then  _ harder,  _ and soobin writhes beneath him, shudders against his lithe frame and holds onto him as tightly as he can. yeonjun's tongue soothes the areas his teeth have been, sweeping up along the curve of soobin's ear. he kisses the bone just behind it, and soobin whines, eyes squeezed shut so tight he sees flashes of light against the backs of his lids. he feels like he's floating. god, he feels  _ good–  _ his body says so in the way that it curls in towards yeonjun, desperately trying to get closer.

beneath them, the ground lurches, and yeonjun's tossed off balance with the force of it. he lands on his side just to soobin's left. the younger man doesn't wait for the shaking to stop, doesn't  _ care to. _ he reaches out to snag yeonjun by the front of his t-shirt, pulling him in close, wrapping both arms round his shoulders. he holds on  _ tight.  _ and the sky deepens in shade, turns bloody red, and the dirt splits, dispelling dust everywhere, and the pool water sloshes all over the backyard, soaking the both of them. soobin closes his eyes, burying his face in the crown of yeonjun's head. he breathes in his smell– lemon, cinnamon, vanilla. that stupid body wash he's used since senior year of high school. 

soobin thinks yeonjun might be crying. he can't quite hear over the way that the earth is slowly shuddering apart, but he feels the trembles shake his small frame. so he presses kisses to the top of his head over and over again, smoothing his hands down the older man's back. 

"hyung," he says, loud, close enough to yeonjun's ear so as to be heard. "hyung, i'm right here, okay? i'm right here."

yeonjun nods, face ducked into his chest, fists clinging tight to the fabric of his cardigan. he murmurs something that soobin doesn't quite pick up, but he feels the low vibration of the words against his collarbones.

"what?" he asks, sweeping his fingers through yeonjun's pretty hair. "i can't hear you."

yeonjun raises his head, and their eyes catch. soobin feels like he's been punched in the gut, air expelled from his lungs  _ fast.  _ yeonjun is so gorgeous up close, dark eyelashes fanning across his cheek. sweeping his eyebrows. tears streak down his face, turning his nose a ruddy red. soobin leans down to kiss his forehead, feels his own eyes sting with tears. yeonjun exhales warm against his throat.

"i said i love you," he repeats, and soobin more reads his lips than actually hears the words. "soobin– i love you. you- i mean it. you're good, and kind. you're-"

_ everything. _

a roar tears itself out of the sky, loud,  _ demanding.  _ the ground quakes. it splits apart.  _ they  _ split apart. soobin closes his eyes with yeonjun's name on his tongue.

a tidal wave forms overhead. turns into a tsunami, and then into an  _ earth-shattering  _ disaster. it breaks as it hits shore. soobin stretches his arm, tries to find yeonjun, but he's swept away, body slammed hard into the backyard's wooden fence. his consciousness seeps out, turns into a puddle of  _ black, _ fuzzy around the edges of his vision until he sees absolutely nothing at all. as an overwhelming exhaustion takes over, he imagines he hears yeonjun's voice, calling out to him. it is sweet, lilting up at the edges. the corners of his mouth twitch.  _ listen to me,  _ yeonjun's voice says. it's so familiar, so warm.  _ listen closely. can you hear me? _

soobin breathes out, shakily.

"yes," he whispers. his throat hurts. he wraps his hand around it, feeling lingering remnants of yeonjun's lips there. "i can hear you."

he's not sure how much time passes. everything feels suspended, poured into the air to dry like molten honey. he lies on his back, arm pressed against the fence. perhaps the world really does collapse around him. perhaps the sky falls. he keeps his eyes closed all the while, and he waits and waits for bittersweet nothingness to take over. waits for the longing to cease, for yeonjun's voice to fade from his mind. he waits so long that the destruction ceases, quiets down. waits so long that the sky turns blue black. waits so long that he falls asleep, lazily, shivering against the wet grass.

_ "soobin?" _

he feels warm all the way down to his toes. he must be dreaming. that's yeonjun's voice again, tugging at the edge of his subconscious. he yearns for him,  _ aches.  _ sleep makes his eyelids heavy, and his limbs leaden.

_ "soobin, can you hear me?" _

he tries to speak, but all that comes out is a soft whimper. his body hurts so much. when had it started hurting?

_ "soobin,"  _ a hand presses to his shoulder, shaking, and that's– real. that's human touch,  _ warmth  _ leaking from fingertips. his heart beats fast, jackrabbit thing sputtering in his chest.  _ "if you can hear me, open your eyes." _

he's trying. 

_ "baby,"  _ he hears,  _ feels  _ in his gut.  _ "baby, please." _

his eyes snap open. above him, the stars are out. they're pretty like this. no light pollution. electricity has likely been taken out everywhere. he imagines he can see orion, twinkling bright and showy. 

"soobin?"

yeonjun's face pops into view. he's got a big gash across his cheekbone, smearing red down his face. soobin reaches up. catches it with his thumb. 

"you're alive," he whispers. "we're alive. how– i mean, what? i don't-"

yeonjun shakes his head, giddy laughter bubbling up from his belly, flittering out of his mouth. "i don't know. i don't know, i don't know."

"what time is it?" soobin asks. "what  _ day  _ is it?"

"i don't know," yeonjun breathes, eyes shining. 

"how long did i sleep for?"

"i don't _know,"_ yeonjun cups his cheeks with both hands, and he's crying now, wet, salty things dripping down down down, splashing against soobin's own cheeks. "i just found you. we got separated, i went _flying._ i don't know."

soobin grins. can't help it. "what  _ do  _ you know?" he asks, teasing. 

yeonjun's face smoothes over, tears ceasing. he leans close to press their foreheads together, lips leaving a little kiss to the tip of soobin's nose. a tiny dew drop forming on a flower during early, summer mornings. the kind of thing you might trample on by accident. that you might lose beneath the sole of your shoe.

"i know that i love you," he answers eventually. 

soobin breathes in deep, eyes falling shut. around them, the cicadas trill, and soobin laughs, soft and airy.  _ of course those damn things would survive. resilient.  _

yeonjun smooths his hands down the sides of soobin's neck. he leans in to kiss him, nose smushed against soobin's cheek. and it's wet and warm, messy. yeonjun tastes of tears and copper blood, and soobin tangles his hands in his hair and holds him close. holds him  _ tight.  _ promises himself that he's not letting go ever again. they kiss and kiss until they're both breathless, giggling, touching just to feel as their chests press together so tight they feel each other's hearts beat.

and the sirens do not sound. the ground does not shake. the sky does not fall. 

so soobin opens his eyes to peer into yeonjun's, and begins to count every single eyelash that fans across his pretty cheeks.

because they've got all the time in the world, after all.

  


**Author's Note:**

> hi! come say hi on [twt](https://twitter.com/be0mkal)
> 
> thank u to gi for looking over this!


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